Sermons

Making Plans (1 Corinthians 16:5-12)

 

deals with the gospel motives of Paul and the question of guidance.

  1. We plan, God over-rules.
    • Prov.16:9. See 15:5-6. He plans to get to Corinth via Macedonia (northern Greece) but it does not work out – 2 Cor.1:15-17.
    • 15:7. Paul has a plan, but it is with the proviso
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Sermons

Collecting for the Saints (1 Corinthians 16:1-12)

 

  • flows on from 15:58; like Matt.6:20. The collection came about because of a famine in the world, which was especially severe in Judea
  • Acts 11:27-30; Gal.2:10; note 2 Cor.8-9. The Corinthians had specifically raised this issue – hence ‘now concerning’ in 16:1; see e.g. 7:1; later he refers to
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Sermons

The Qualifications of an Elder – Part 2 (1 Timothy 3:1-7)

 

  1. The elder must be able to teach.
    • 3:2. For all in Hebrews 5:12. Lawrence Eyres: ‘An elder need not be a gifted public speaker, or an able teacher of the Bible to large groups, though both these gifts are highly desirable. But at the very least, an elder must
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Articles

The Death of Emily So

The imminent death of little Emily, aged five, has hung like a black cloud over our family ever since her diagnosis with Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Glioma (DIPG) in late October 2021. The world suddenly shrank, and any sort of equilibrium seemed to have gone. Finally on Tuesday 24 May 2022 …

Sermons

Victory! (1 Corinthians 15:50-57)

 

When G. K. Chesterton’s sister, Beatrice, died at the age of eight, her grief-stricken father turned her picture to the wall, got rid of all her possessions, and forbade the mention of her name. The Christian faith does not guarantee us tomorrow, but it does guarantee us eternity in …

Articles

Synods, the Word, and the World


Few things in life are as pretentious or embarrassing as liberal Church synods, and in May 2022 there were two Anglican efforts to illustrate this – one in England and the other in Australia. The one in England was held in Christ Church Cathedral in Oxford, and was a strongly …

Sermons

The Resurrection Body (1 Corinthians 15:35-49)

 

Paul imagines someone arguing with him – 15:35-36a. Acts 26:8.

  1. There are illustrations of resurrection in nature.
      1. 15:36-38; John 12:24. There is both continuity and discontinuity between the seed and the plant, the body here and the resurrection body.
      2. 15:39. If God can make different kinds of flesh here
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Sermons

What if it’s Not True? (1 Corinthians 15:29-34)

 

15:12-19 centres on belief; 15:29-34 on ethics. With the resurrection of Christ, there is endless hope; without Him there is a hopeless end.

  1. Why be baptized for the dead?
    • 15:29. A difficult verse!
      1. Calvin says it refers to catechumens on the point of death who requested baptism.
      2. some try
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Sermons

The Order of Resurrection Victory (1 Corinthians 15:23-28)

 

Paul Barnett calls this ‘a short history of Death’.

  1. Christ is the firstfruits.
    • 15:23. Alfred Lord Tennyson: Behold, we know not anything. Not so. Charles Hodge: ‘the resurrection of Christ is a pledge and proof of the resurrection of his people’.
  2. Those who belong to Christ will be raised
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